flash drive llf

[c_plus_plus]

I have an old CompUSA brand Flash drive that is 16Mb, perfect for use as a dedicated calculator file storage. The problem is that there is password protection installed, and it caused the drive to become read-only. I want to be able to have this used with MSD8X, so I need to get the read-only off. I did a little research online and found that I need a Low Level Formatter (LLF.) I looked around and the only free version that i could find that works for Flash Drives didn't support the small size of my Flash Drive. Does anyone know of a good, free LLF that I could use?

[NETWizz]

What do you mean a password?

Is the file system or partition encrypted? If it is, just do a normal format.


Heck, there is always DD

i.e.

#dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda

Then

#fdisk /dev/sda

create
Primary
1



Basically, you are creating primary partition number 1.

Then select t for type and e to select the hex id, which is correct for VFAT or FAT32.

finally, p to print everything and make sure it looks right.

Here is an example of what a 2 GB PNY Attache memory stick I have looks like:

justin@ublinux:~$ fdisk /dev/sda

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 60858.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sda: 1994 MB, 1994227200 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 60858 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 60859 1947479+ e W95 FAT16 (LBA)

Command (m for help):

______________

The memory stick device is /dev/sda if it is the first SCSI, SATA, or USB storage device.
/dev/sda1 means first primary partition
* means it is an Active Partiton
The next values are start and stop points for the partition AKA the size
e is the File System Type. It is your standard Windows 98 hex value, which is compatible with everything.
If all is well, w to write the partition table.

The blocks are a size calculation nothing more and the Win95 FAT16(LBA) is what linux reports for FAT32, which it also refers to as VFAT. Regardless, that is just a string that is printed for the hex id "e" if you take the default 83, that is a Linux partitiion.
Have fun and don't worry. A memory stick is typically nothing more than miniture drive that uses the hard drive arcitecture including partitions, filesystems, cylinders, heads sectors, LBA... It is broken down logically as a hard drive although it is actually flash.

For these reasons, if you treat it like a hard drive, you should have all of your bases covered unless they did something funky such as have special firmware or a locked drive like a laptops harddrive.

Now, take it to machine then go into Disk Management and rightclick and select format. If you want to format it in linux, do something like this

#mkfs.vfat /dev/sda1

[c_plus_plus]

wow. um. I was thinking windows, but I booted my Fedora box and tried some of that.
Heres:what I got:
#fdisk /dev/sda
You will not be able to write the partition table.

Command (m for help):

As far as your question about the password, when I plug in the drive to a windows system, I get one application in the window called PassMan.exe. I click on it, type my pasword and click ok. It then closed the window and next time I open the drive from Explorer, it is there with the content of the drive. Can anyone else help?

[alexrudd]

What happens if you unlock it and then use Explorer to format it?

[c_plus_plus]

If I enter the password and then format it, the password protection remains, but the files that are locked are erased. I guess that NETWIZ was corect in saying that the partition that the files are on is encrypted, but Im not sure.

[NETWizz]

Some of these encrypted drives offer two partitions. What does the partition table look like? Typically, one partition is small and contains the program that mounts and decrypts the second. If you delete the second and resize the first or delete and recreate the first, you should have it unprotected.

[c_plus_plus]

No. When I look at the partitions before I enter the password, it is one contiguous partition that takes up the whole space. After I enter the password, there is still one contiguous partition but the password program is gone.

[brandonw]

The file at fmi.compusa.com/attach/7cb10136-647c-4358-8649-06cc3e80a410.pdf says you can run the PassMan.exe program and reformat it without using a password.

Have you actually tried this drive with msd8x? If you did and got an error, I'd be curious to know what it is.